Sweat & Smiles: Getting to the Top Physically by Going One Step at a Time and One Rep at a Time

Most of the members of my programs perform timed circuit training; this means doing one exercise as many times as possible for a set amount of time, resting, and moving on to the next exercise. If you look on Pinterest or Google workouts you’ll often see the acronym AMRAP (as many reps as possible). The benefits of this style of training are endless but for me and my members it’s meant to become a way of life. It may sound silly but living an AMRAP lifestyle will change your life.

The majority of my beliefs surrounding fitness, health, and wellness apply to all areas of life. Practicing things like moderation, following your intuition (listening to your body), and not looking for shortcuts apply to fitness … and parenting, and work, and, well, everything. I’ve benefited from applying my knowledge of fitness to everyday life but practicing an AMRAP lifestyle changed my life completely.

Here are my favorite benefits of AMRAP:

•Everyone from beginners to professionals can perform the same workout

•It’s time efficient

•It’s mindful

•You start focusing on your form

•It instills confidence and keeps you motivated

AMRAP means we’re all in this together. In workouts this means a professional and an amateur can be performing the same workout, the professional may get in more rounds than the amateur but they’re still in it together. In life it translates to compassion. Fundamentally we all want the same things: to feel good, to be happy, to live comfortably; we’re all trying to get to the same place so be compassionate to those both behind you and in front of you - we’re all in this together.

AMRAP means being efficient with your time. You know exactly when your workout starts and when it finishes and it combines strength and cardio so you literally spend less time working out. In life that means being efficient with your time… saying no to the things you don’t want to do so you spend more time doing the things you want to do. Spending an hour doing cardio and another hour doing strength training will do the same thing as over committing yourself to please others: burn you out.

AMRAP means you are doing the very best you can in that moment. It doesn’t matter if you could have done better 5 years ago, and it doesn’t matter what exercise is coming next. In life that means the same: doing your best. Doing your best can change from moment to moment and will look different when you are sick, or healthy. Living an AMRAP life means doing the very best you can in that moment and not wasting energy thinking about the past or worrying about the future.

AMRAP means you are spending more time focusing on your form. During your workout that means focusing on things like your posture, foot placement… being aware of your body; in life that means focusing on your attitude, your mindset, your body language… being aware of your mind and heart.

AMRAP gives you time to celebrate the small wins. When you’re working out you can immediately see progress when you were able to do 15 pushups in 45 seconds where previously you only did 14, and those wins should be celebrated. Too often in life we give no attention to the small wins, whether it was a 10 minute walk or a situation where we remained kind instead of losing our cool. We are prone to dwelling on small loses, beating ourselves up for days over something that really doesn’t matter. If we spent even a few extra seconds celebrating our small wins we’d start training our minds to think more positively. Next time you have a small win (or a 15 second break in your workout) take the time to celebrate what you just did.

Whether it’s a big goal or just getting through life, we have a tendency to look at the top and get stuck on how far we have to go. The truth is, the only way to get to the top is one step at a time - one rep at a time. If you find yourself stuck still, not knowing what to do next, or overwhelmed by all of the things, remember AMRAP and take it one step at a time, focusing on just that step, and take as many as you possibly can - before you know it you’ll be at the top.